1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a conveyer of a honeycomb formed article made by extrusion and a conveying method thereof. More specifically, the present invention relates to a conveyer and a conveying method that enable conveying a lengthy honeycomb formed article extruded at a high speed without causing cracks and deformation with a simple apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
A horizontally extruding method has heretofore been known as a method of forming a honeycomb formed article. In this method, a cylindrical honeycomb formed article is formed by: attaching a mold of a desired shape to the exit of an extruder whose extruding direction is set to be the horizontal direction; and continuously extruding the ceramic material charged to the extruder from the mold. Then a honeycomb mother article is produced by cutting the cylindrical honeycomb formed article to be extruded to a prescribed length. Successively the honeycomb mother article is variously processed by drying, sintering, and others and finally a single honeycomb formed article or a plurality of honeycomb formed articles is obtained as a final formed article from one honeycomb mother article.
Here, a cylindrical honeycomb formed article just after being extruded is very soft and weak and deformable. It is necessary to support the cylindrical honeycomb formed article just after extrusion so as not to deform it and to convey it to each step in order to obtain a final formed article of good quality.
As a conveyer to convey an extruded cylindrical honeycomb formed article, as described in Patent Document 1 for example, a cradle type conveyer having a cradle of a prescribed length is mounted on a conveyer and supplied sequentially toward the downstream of the exit of an extruder and an extruded honeycomb formed article is sequentially supported and conveyed on the supplied cradle is known. According to the conveyer described in Patent Document 1, the length of a cradle in the conveying direction is set so that a honeycomb mother article cut out from the extruded honeycomb formed article may be supported and conveyed by a plurality of cradles each having a length in the conveying direction less than half the length of the honeycomb mother article in the axial direction and thus it has been possible to support and convey a honeycomb formed article lengthier than ever before. That is, since the length of one cradle in the conveying direction is short, the distance between the extruder and the supply position of cradles shortens in proportion and it has been possible to mount a honeycomb formed article on the supplied cradles before it hangs down under its own weight even though the honeycomb formed article being extruded is lengthy.
Further as another conveyer, as described in Patent Document 2 for example, an air float type conveyer to convey a honeycomb formed article while sliding on the supporting face of a rail by: installing a fixed rail having a concave shape in cross section conforming to the cross sectional shape of the honeycomb formed article in the manner of being connected to the exit of an extruder; ejecting air from a plurality of open frontal areas formed on the supporting face of the rail on which the honeycomb formed article is mounted; and reducing the contact resistance between the supporting face and the honeycomb formed article is known. The conveyer of Patent Document 2 is equipped with a humidifier to control the humidity of the ejected air by mixing steam with the air in order to prevent the honeycomb formed article from desiccating due to air ejection.    [Patent Document 1] JP-A-2004-142160    [Patent Document 2] JP-B2-3321825